A Long Time
by Pyra Opal
Summary: Haku is keeping his promise to Chihiro, but he is in for a shock when he finds her. Please read and review!


Disclaimer: I do not own Spirited Away.

AN: This is just a small one shot. It's not the most humorous story I've ever written, but it just seemed like something that could happen, despite it being a depressing thought.

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Haku soared over the small town in his dragon form

Haku soared over the small town in his dragon form. It was late and the stars twinkled in the sky above him as he followed his instincts over a small river and towards a small bungalow near the river's edge.

How long had it been? Haku wasn't sure (Spirits were not the best time keepers as time did not affect them). All he knew was that he hadn't aged a day. He hoped Chihiro wouldn't mind, he wasn't sure what age she was and he didn't want to change his until he was sure.

He remembered the girl he had last seen when she was ten fondly. He had promised her then that they would see each other again, and he was finally going to keep his promise. Maybe she would even agree to go back to the Spirit world with him.

Haku landed silently in front of the small house and tried the door handle. It wasn't locked. He frowned at that, he'd heard stories about burglars and worse in the human world. Surely it wasn't safe for Chihiro to leave her door unlocked. Stepping quietly into the house he made a mental note to talk to her about it after all the greetings were over. At the moment though he felt like he was going to be sick. Did she still like him? Had she moved on? Did she even remember him? This house wasn't big enough for a family so that meant she was no longer living with her parents, so how much time had passed?

Zeniba hadn't been sure either when he'd asked her before he took off this morning. After Chihiro had helped him remember his name he'd gone straight to Yubaba and quit. What had followed had not been pretty but, with a little help from Boh and Rin, he'd got out mostly unscathed. With nowhere else to go he'd gone to Zeniba and asked to be her apprentice. Time had passed and he'd thought almost constantly of the girl who unknowingly held his heart, and finally had the nerve to ask Zeniba how to find her.

_The homely little cottage was glowing brightly in the night and Haku, Zeniba, No-Face and Boh, in his mouse form, all sat around the table. No-Face and Boh were spinning yarn as Zeniba bustled about getting everyone tea._

"_What's wrong dear?" she asked Haku as she set a cup in front of him and gestured that he should take a large slice of cake. "What or _who_ is bothering you."_

_No -Face's head shot up and Boh ran onto the table and squeaked in glee. "I knew it," came his high pitched mouse voice (Boh had learnt to talk in this form). "Haku misses Sen, Haku loves Sen, he wants to go and find her," Boh sang as Haku attempted to squash the annoying mouse with his cup._

"_Now, now you two," Zeniba stepped in as No-Face laughed behind her. "No fighting. Is that what is bothering you dear?" She asked Haku kindly. Haku just nodded and wished the ground would swallow him up._

"_Well that's easily remedied," Zeniba clapped her hands in a business like manner. "For a moment I was afraid you might be having cravings for treasure and human flesh as some of your distant cousins have had." Haku chose to ignore that last part and waited for her to continue. "All you have to do is follow the power from the hair band we made her and it'll lead you right to her."_

_It was that easy and the following morning he was waved off, but not before Boh cornered him and ordered him to bring Chihiro back to visit once he found her._

Haku quietly followed the thread of magic towards a room at the back of the house, he silently opened the door and peered inside. And almost collapsed.

THE END

(AN: Always wanted to do that, sorry. On with the story.)

Lying on the bed was an old lady. Wrinkles covered her skin and white hair was pulled into a ponytail held together with a magical purple band. It was Chihiro. How could this have happened? Was she under a spell or something?

The old woman's eyes snapped open. They were still the same colour, but older and wiser now. She peered at him sharply and frowned. "Not another dream. Can't you leave an old lady in peace?"

Haku was frozen, this _was_ Chihiro. He was praying silently that this was a dream. A really bad one. "Chihiro, it's me. It's Haku."

The woman just snorted. "That's what they all say. Then I reach out for you and you disappear." Haku stepped forward and carefully took her hand. It was warm, but he could feel every single bone underneath the skin. It confirmed to him as much as her that this was real.

"I'm real, see."

Tears welled up in Chihiro's eyes as she stared at their hands. "You came," she said, and for a moment she sounded exactly like her ten year old self. "You kept your promise."

"Of course," Haku whispered, holding onto her hand tighter. His voice was hoarse as he tried not to sound too distressed. "Chihiro, what happened, who did this?"

She laughed. "Did you forget that I'm human Haku, time affects me the way it doesn't affect you. It's been 71 years since we last saw each other. I'm not doing too badly for a human my age. Time did this to me Haku, a lot of it did this to me."

Haku didn't know how to respond, he thought desperately for something to say. "Boh, wanted you to come and visit. No-Face and Zeniba too."

Before she could respond there was the sound of the door opening and some shouted out "MUM!"

Chihiro took her hand from Haku's and shot him a look. "If they ask, then you're a boy from the village who helps with my garden." With that she closed her eyes and breathed deeply, leaving Haku to stand awkwardly by the bed. A guy had called her mum. He hoped it didn't mean what he thought it did.

The door opened and a man who looked to be in his fifties appeared in the doorway. He was definitely Chihiro's. Same hair, though most of it was falling out, same colour eyes, same nose. "Who are you?" the man asked him as a woman entered behind him.

"I'm from the town, I help her with the garden sometimes," Haku lied smoothly, though feeling incredibly uneasy. _His_ Chihiro had had a _child_ with a man who was _not _him. _You expected her to die waiting for you then? _A nasty little voice in his head spoke up. His eyes clouded over slightly as he thought about it. It must have seemed to Chihiro that he'd forgotten, it had after all been a lifetime in her world.

"Thank you for helping my mother-in-law," the woman spoke softly. "I'm Katsumi, and this is my husband Kyoshi." She gestured to her husband who was gently shaking Chihiro.

"Mum, it's me. Please wake up." Chihiro opened her eyes and the Kyoshi looked relieved, until Chihiro spoke in a strange voice.

"Ahh, it's nice to see you again Mr Radish Spirit, the tub is just down the hall to your right." There was a pause and Haku stared at the woman he loved. What was she doing? But Chihiro continued. "What do you mean I have to clean the big tub, get the frogs to do it!"

"Mum, your not with the spirits you're here, come on mum." Kyoshi had a note of panic in his voice as he gently shook his mother.

Katsumi sighed as she fluffed up Chihiro's pillows. "You should stop teasing him," she said in her gentle voice. "You know he gets worked up."

"I know, but he sets himself up for it," this time Chihiro spoke in a normal voice and let out what sounded like a cackle. "Remember I'm old not senile boy," she told her son. "Now where's my granddaughter?"

Kyoshi looked embarrassed as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. Haku stood in a corner, forgotten. Then there was a loud clattering and a little girl with her mother's blond hair and her father's eyes burst into the room and launched herself at Chihiro. "Granny!" That was when she saw Haku. "What's your name?"

"Haku," he smiled at the girl as she walked over to him and he knelt down to be at her eye level.

"That's the name of the dragon in Granny's story. Mum named me Lin after her favourite character in Granny's story. Your eyes are really pretty. Can we play sometime?" This was all said very fast and the adults laughed as Haku was bombarded with questions.

"Well," Kyoshi interrupted his daughter. "We just came to say hello, we'll come and see you tomorrow mum."

After a long round of goodbyes the family left Chihiro and Haku alone again. "He seems nice," Haku managed to say without sounding too awkward. Chihiro just sighed and patted the bed next to her, indicating that he should take a seat.

"Well after I left the Spirit world I had to get on with my life. Neither of my parents remembered being pigs so I could tell no one what had happened without sounding insane. It was a nightmare. I was dying to tell someone but had no one to tell. That's when I wrote a book. It was of a girl and her adventures in the Spirit world, and it was a success too, though no one knew the book was based on fact." She sighed and took Haku's hand in hers again.

"I waited for you, refused to go out with any boys and my parents were getting worried that I'd die an old maid. I was almost thirty when I met Kyo. He started off as a friend and kept pursuing me until I allowed him one date. He was very jealous of you." She laughed at this and took a sip of water from the glass on her bedside. "Well in the end I decided I needed to let go. I loved you Haku, I still do, but I also grew to love him. So when he proposed I accepted. He died of a stroke two years ago."

Haku hugged her. "I love you too," he whispered in her ear. "I'm so sorry, but please come with me. Zeniba can make you young and I can protect you in my world."

"I'm dying Haku, why do you think my family is visiting every day. They're too scared to tell me, but they're worried I could disappear any day soon." She laughed as he looked into her eyes, his own very wide. "Don't look like that. It's only natural. I'm human, we live, we love and we eventually die, it's a natural process."

"But…but…" Haku tried to find the words but they failed him.

"I was wondering one thing," Chihiro smiled hopefully. "Could I see the dragon that's been haunting my dreams for a very long time?"

He couldn't deny her, not after all this. Haku stood back and shifted into the beautiful white dragon. He walked over to her and buried his snout into her hair as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Chihiro just smiled with happiness as she closed her eyes for a final time.

Haku stood in the moonlight with a book in his hands. It was the one Chihiro had written. Opening the cover he read:

_Dedicated to my family and friends in both worlds._

Tears blurred his vision and he quickly set the book into his pocket. Turning into the dragon on the front cover of the book he set off home.

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Hope you liked it, please review!


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